Image 593 of Annual report. 1921

Part of Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station

Results navigation

i `
30 Ctirczolar N0_;2(§g7 'T
these small plantings may do if they are not looked after care-
fully and the borer kept from multiplying in them. .
A brief general account of the insect was prepared by thc
author in 1890 and published in Bulletin N0. 31 of the Ken- Ll
tueky Experiment Station. This bulletin is now out of print,
and it seemsvdesirable to republish the information given at
that time and to add to it the results of later experience and ._
V some facts obtained by observations made during the growing pf
season of 1921.
The adult insect (Fig. 1, b and c) is a small brown snout-
beetle measuring about one—tifth inch in length, with three $*
pairs of legs, but without functional wings, being thus de- T
pendent for getting about on a rather slow locomotion by
means of its legs and upon the washing of soils and trans- I
ference of plants from one place to another by growers of
berries and those who sell plants. lt leaves the plants in the
fall and passes the winter in the soil of strawberry beds, be- It
coming active again the following season and placing eggs on
the plants for a new brood. L
Judging by the burrows made by the grubs in the crowns
of plants the are sometimes placed at the base of the leaf -t
petioles, but at other times on the side of the crown, well down
in the soil, the place selected probably depending partly on `_
the looseness of the soil about the plants.
The grubs hatehing from the eggs begin at once to bur-
1·ow into the erown, making a mine extending in some cases
to the lower end. generally filled with refuse except in the
region where the grub is at work. Grubs sometimes eat out the
greater part of the interio1· of the crown before becoming fl
fully grown and ceasing feeding. They appear never to leave _
t·he plants, being quite helpless because of the absence of legs. l
(tenerally but one grub is found in a plant, but several may be 1
present. \\'hen fully grown as grubs (Fig. 1, a.) and ready to 1
arsume the next stage they are white, thick-bodied, measuring
about one-fifth ineh in length, with a yellow head and strong Q
jaws. 3
l